A win at the Alresford 10k in the penultimate race of the Hampshire Road Race League season had seen the Bournemouth AC men confirmed as champions for 2024 to 2025 with one race to spare. To a certain extent, that meant the pressure was off for the final fixture which was the Lordshill 10k but they still wanted to end the season on a high. They also wanted to get as many of the team out racing as they could to join in the celebrations.

After finishing as first scorer for the club in the previous two Hampshire Road Race League fixtures, Luke Martin was featuring again at the Lordshill 10k. He was joined by Adam Corbin, Stu Nicholas, Josh Cole, James Hulbert and a whole host of others in a very strong looking Bournemouth AC side.

In what has become quite a rare occurrence, the club even managed to get a ladies team out, with Katie Gunn, Sophie Read, Helen Beddoe and Max Yao all competing. Katie had been doing quite a few races recently following her two marathons in the space of a week escapade when she did London and the North Dorset the following weekend.

Since then she’d ran the May 5, the Swansea Half Marathon, the Purbeck 10k, the Alresford 10k and the Exbury Gardens 10k. After coming away with a time she was a little disappointed with at the Purbeck 10k, Sophie Read was hoping for a better performance at Lordshill.

Even Road Runners captain and team manager Rich Nelson was pulling on his racing vest for back-to-back fixtures after his appearance at Alresford. It promised to be quite an outing for the yellow and blues.

This year’s race had attracted a high standard field, with last year’s winner James Copeland returning. Former Bournemouth AC man Harry Smith was racing as well, as was Hercules Wimbledon star Fred Slemeck. The race for the top positions was looking like it would be hotly contested. Harry had run a PB of 14:24 in April at one of the Friday Night 5k Under the Lights events at Battersea Park so he was clearly still going well.

The course for the Lordshill 10k contains a lot of slight downhill in the first two and a half miles but it’s an out and back so you have to then go back up that slight hill in the second half of the race which makes it a tricky one to pace.

It probably wasn’t all that tricky for Josh Cole though as he only has one pace… Very fast! He was having a good season thus far, finishing in the top ten in his last three Dorset Road Race League fixtures and was looking on course to finish quite high up in the men’s individual table and possibly inline to win his age category.

Motoring through the first 5k in 16:19, Josh was in 8th position at the half way stage with an average pace of 3:16 per kilometre. Getting through the second 5k in 17:28, Josh was 12th best in the field over that section.

He’d lost a couple of places though so ended up taking 10th place in 33:46. That put him four seconds behind the man who topped the standing in the men’s individual table for the Hampshire Road Race League, Brandon Cuell of Fareham.

Going through the first mile in 5:03, Harry Smith then followed it up with a 4:59 and a 4:58, reaching the 5k point in 15:34. He somehow didn’t slow down the second half of the race either, clocking a 4:56 for his fourth mile, followed by a 5:03 and a 5:01. His second 5k was actually faster, with a 15:27 giving him a finishing time of 30:59.

James Copeland put up a good fight and thought he’d reeled Harry back in only for the Southampton man to blow him away in the final section. That meant James had to settle for second this time, even though he’d improved on his winning time from last year by 54 seconds. His finishing time was 31:05.

Aldershot Farnham & District man Joe Blacknell took third in 31:51 and Fred Slemeck was the fourth finisher inside 32 minutes, clocking a 31:58. Joshua Price finished in the same position as last year, fifth, even though he improved on his time by 51 seconds, getting round in 32:30. Winchester Running Club member Andrew Winterbottom was sixth in 32:41.

17 year old Dylan Poulton of Alton Runners completed the course in 33:11 to take seventh place and Ellis Meades-Woolley of Fareham claimed eighth in 33:39 which put him just ahead of his teammate Brandon Cuell.

Ryde Harriers man Gary Marshall was running his seventh race of the season and his 11th place was enough to see him take the runner up spot in the men’s individual table. He nailed a time of 33:54, with his Ryde Harriers teammate Ross Holme taking 12th in 34:16.

Starting off with a 5:14 for his first mile split, Stu Nicholas then went on to register a 5:25 and then a 5:31 to put him at 16:48 for his first 5k. That was 16th best in the field. He then went on the clock a 5:30 for his fourth mile and then a 5:56 for his fifth, followed by a 5:38 for his sixth. That put his second 5k at 17:31 which was 13th best in the field.

Having gained two placed during that strong second half, Stu got over the line in 14th place and came away with a chip time of 34:17. That was actually 18 seconds quicker than the time he recorded at Stubbington earlier in the year, so a really good result for Stu. His average pace was 5:31 per mile.

Starting off with a 5:23 for his first mile split, Luke Martin then went on to register a 5:33 and then a 5:35 for his second and third miles. That got him to 5k in 17:03 which was 21st best in the field. Going through the fourth mile in 5:29, he then went on to clock a 5:46 for his fifth mile and then a 5:36 for his sixth.

It was a strong second half from Luke, with his pace not really dropping off a lot from what he managed in the first half, even though it was slightly uphill as opposed to slightly downhill. His second 5k split was 17:26 which was the 10th fastest of anyone in the field. That put his finishing time at 34:28 and put him in 16th place. He was third scorer for Bournemouth AC.

Starting off with a 5:21 and then following it up with a 5:28, it was a fast start from Adam Corbin. He then dropped off a bit, clocking a 5:49 for his third mile which put him at 17:03 for his first mile so that was the same as Luke.

Continuing with a 5:35 for his fourth mile, he then went on to suffer a bit over the last two miles, dropping to 6:04 for his fifth and 5:58 for his sixth. That put his second 5k at 18:03 which was 29th best in the field.

With a finishing time of 35:04, Adam came in in 22nd place overall. It was only 32 seconds off the time he managed at Eastleigh in March but one and a half minutes slower than his Stubbington time. Still a good performance from Adam though in very humid conditions.

Since he was fourth scorer for the club, that was enough to wrap up the win for the Bournemouth AC men. They’d only gone and done it again and it was a fifth league win of the season. With a record like that, no other club was seriously going to challenge them. They came away with a better score than Winchester Running Club as well and they topped the standings in the A2 division ahead of Southampton AC who finished second at Lordshill.

Making his Bournemouth AC debut, Arthur Riley went through the first mile in 5:36. He then got onto 5:46 pace and pretty much stayed on that for the rest of the race, aside from the fifth mile when he clocked a 5:57.

His first 5k split was 17:48 which was 40th best overall but his second one of 17:59 was 27th best. which saw him move up to 33rd position in the rankings. His finishing time was 35:44.

Getting through the first 5k in 17:54, James Hulbert was in 43rd place at that stage. He then completed the second 5k in 18:32 which was 42nd best. That gave him a finishing time of 36:23 and put him in 41st place in the overall standings.

After racing quite a lot in the weeks leading up to the Lordshill 10k, Jack Barwick‘s confidence in racing had grown tenfold. He’d done the May 5, the Swansea Half Marathon, the Purbeck 10k and the Exbury Gardens 10k. Perhaps now not so worried about crossing the finishing line, on the contrary, he seemed to want to get there as quickly as possible.

Going through the first 5k in 18 minutes, he was in 48th place at that stage. When he was on his way back, the trajectory turned from down to up and that made it much tougher for Jack to maintain the pace.

Getting through the second 5k in 19:11, he reached the finishing line in an excellent time of 37:08, which was 53 seconds quicker than the time he produced at the Exbury Gardens 10k. It was a really impressive display from Jack and put him in 50th place in the overall standings.

Lesley Locks of Aldershot, Farnham & District was first female, registering a time of 37:11 and that put her in 51st place overall. Sean Holmes of Overton Harriers was first over 50, managing a time of 37:36 which put him 62nd overall.

Rebecca Sleap of Basingstoke & Mid Hants made it to the finish line in 37:59 and that was enough to see her placed second female and take 70th place in the overall standings. Rachael Walsh of Alton Runners was third placed lady in a time of 38:20.

Starting off spritely with a 5:46 for his first mile, Mike Akers started to find it a little tougher to maintain the pace as the race progressed. Being one of those races that gets harder in the second half, if you haven’t saved enough energy for the latter stages, you can really come a cropper.

Mike went through the first 5k in 18:40 which put him 71st at that stage. He slowed a fair bit in the second half though, registering a 19:48 for his second 5k which was 87th best in the field. That culminated in a finishing time of 38:25 which put him in 74th place.

Whilst it was still a good time by any standards, it was one of those days where it hadn’t quite clicked for Mike and he hadn’t quite delivered the performance he was hoping for.

On the plus side though, Mike was fourth scorer for the Bournemouth AC B team and they finished first in the B2 division by a long way. In fact, they were the lowest scoring B team in the entire league, just bettering Lordshill, who were the best of the A1 division teams.

After pulling a muscle in his back earlier in the week, Rich Brawn thought he was going to be out of the race. It hadn’t healed as quickly as he thought and he was still in quite a lot of pain when the race day arrived.

He went for a warm up jog to see how it was and it was clear that he wouldn’t be able to run fast and race the way that he normally would race. Hence he started at a very steady pace, even though it was a fast downhill section and was not able to capitalise at all.

Registering a 6:10 for his first mile, he went on to complete the first 5k in 19:42 which put him 118th in the field. It was a very conservative start but the plus point was that he would have a lot left for the second half. The downside of that was that it was a tougher, slightly uphill second half which prevented him from significantly lifting the pace.

Starting to put a bit more in though, he could feel that the pain in his back wasn’t getting any worse. Then with 3k to go he started running hard and from that point on he felt no pain at all.

Clocking a 19:33 for his second 5k, he was 77th quickest in the field for that section and had gained 25 places, finishing in 93rd place. His time of 39:14 was his slowest 10k time for many years but it was probably more fun doing the race than it would have been just watching.

Finding it hard work in the humid conditions, Jason Christian was never quite able to get into the rhythm he would have wanted. Going through the first 5k in 19:55, he was in 135th place at that stage.

He didn’t actually slow down much over the second half so it ended up being quite a consistently paced run, clocking a 20:08 for his second 5k. That was 104th best in the field. That saw him gain 21 places, moving up to 114th place with a finishing time of 39:59.

Starting off at around 6:30 pace, Katie Gunn ran the first 5k in 20:05 which made her 14th fastest female at that stage and 143rd overall. Even though the second half of the race was tougher, she didn’t really slow down much and got through the second 5k in 20:08, so almost the same time.

Over the second 5k, she was 7th quickest female and 102nd overall. That put her final finishing time at 40:07 and she’d gained 23 places over the second half to finish in a time of 40:13. She’d come in 8th out of 371 women as well and 120th overall.

It was perhaps a little below par from Katie by her own high standards but she’ll no doubt have other opportunities to recapture her best form in future 10k races throughout the year.

Going well to begin with, Nathan Mearns clocked a 6:09 for his first mile, although a lot of that was downhill of course. After that he settled into a rhythm at around 6:30 pace, going through the first 5k in 19:51. That put him 129th in the field at that stage.

Like a lot of the athletes, it was on the fifth mile where his pace started to drop a bit. In fact, he was down to a 7:02 for that mile and then a 6:52 for his final mile. That meant he’d taken exactly a minute longer for his second 5k, getting through it in 20:51 which was 134th best in the field.

That put his finishing time at 40:38 which was a PB for him, bettering the 41:24 he did at the Bournemouth Bay Run in March. He’d finished 133rd overall out of a field of 862.

Ever since she clocked a 40:15 at the Stubbington 10k, Sophie Read had been eying up a sub 40. She hadn’t been in her best form though since completing the London Marathon in April and it had taken her a while to get back up to speed. She was hoping the Lordshill 10k might be the race where she would finally get back on track.

Her plan was to set off at sub 40 pace and see how far she could get but it didn’t take long for her to realise that it wasn’t on the cards. Feeling a little deflated, she was almost ready to abandon ship when Chris O’Brien came past and told her to stick with him the rest of the way.

That saved the race for Sophie and she got through the first 5k in 21:13 which put her 189th overall and made her 21st female. With Chris’s help she kept it going well in the second half, clocking a 22:13 which was 199th best in the field and 22nd best out of the women.

Her finishing time was 43:25 and that put her in 187th place overall and she was 21st placed female. She was pleased to get over the line and thankful to Chris for helping her.

That made it more of a threshold or tempo sort of effort for Chris. He finished 189th overall and was 16th out of 97 in his age bracket with a time of 43:26. That act of kindness from Chris demonstrated the benefits of being part of a team and having others around you to pick you up if you’re having a tough time.

Completing her first 5k in 21:50, Helen Beddoe was 28th female at that stage and 6th in her age category. She then went on to produce a 22:21 for her second 5k which was 210th best in the field and 26th fastest out of the women involved.

With that, she’d gained six places the second half of the race and finished 212th overall and 26th female. She had also placed 6th in her age category with her time of 43:58. It was a huge PB from Helen and bettered her time from Round the Lakes in April by over two minutes. It really was a fabulous performance from Helen and showed that her training is most certainly baring fruits.

Stu Nicholas’s wife Anna was running as well and she completed the course in 48:04 which put her in 362nd place overall and 68th placed female. Jud Kirk was the next Bournemouth AC member to reach the line after that. He posted a 24:16 for his first 5k which put him 376th overall and 30th in the over 60 bracket.

He then went on to complete the second 5k in 24:22 which 346th best in the field and 26th in his age category. That put his finishing time at 48:20 which saw him place 37th overall and 27th in the Male V60 category.

Road Runners supremo Rich Nelson is still quite quick on a downhill section and he raced through the first mile in 7:24. When the course began to flatten out a bit though, or even go on a slight incline that made it much tougher for him.

Since it was an out and back course though, he was able to get his phone out and take some in-race shots of the other Bournemouth AC runners as they came back down the other side.

Managing to multitask pretty well, he went through the first 5k in 25:51 which put him 475th overall and 65th in the Male V50 category. Getting through the second 5k in 26:02, Rich was 451st best on that one and 62nd in the his age category.

That culminated in a finishing time of 51:52 which put him 461st overall and 63rd in the Male V50 category. He’d gained 14 places over the second half of the race which was pretty good going.

The last Bournemouth AC runner over the line, but no means the least, was Max Yao. She started off at a similar pace as Rich for the first mile but was then a fair bit faster than Rich over the next couple of miles. That took her to a first 5k of 25:10 which put her 443rd overall and 104th female.

In the second half of the race she found it really tough going though and wasn’t able to main the pace she’d been running at previously. The second 5k took her 27:28, which was 523rd best in the field and 141st female. Her finishing time was 52:24 which put her 476th overall and made her 120th female.

Max was fourth scorer for the Bournemouth AC women though and that was enough to put them in second place for the race in the Women’s A3 division, with Hamwic Harriers getting the win. That was the first time this season that the Bournemouth AC women had fielded a full team.

It was tight for second, third and fourth place in the Men’s A1 division at Lordshill but Denmead Striders got second in the end, with Fareham in third and Ryde Harriers taking fourth.

In the end the Bournemouth AC men had just over half the points that the second place team had, so in truth, it was an absolute whitewash of a win and they had really excelled in the division and been on another stratosphere to the opposition.

Deanmead Striders took second place with Ryde Harriers finishing third in the end and Fareham Running Club in fourth. Stubbington Green and Andover AC were the bottom two and will be relegated to the A2 division.

Finishing on the same league score as Bournemouth AC, Winchester Running Club topped the standings in the A2 division and their five wins and four second place finishes ensured they were promoted to the top flight. Liss RC were second and will join Winchester RC in the top division next season.

Isle of Wight Road Runners only managed to get a team out for seven of the league fixtures and they were relegated from the A2 division along with Winchester & District AC who only got a team out for one of the 12 races.

With six wins over the course of the season, Vectis Academy topped the standings in the Men’s A3 division with Hardley Runners taking second and it will be those two promoted to the A2 division.

The Lordshill Road Runners ladies won their third race of the season at the Lordshill 10k and that was enough to see them over the line for the win in the Women’s A1 division. It was tight for second place but Liss got it in the end, ahead of Denmead Striders and Fareham. Totten and Ryde Harriers will be relegated to the A2 division.

The Winchester Running Club women were victorious at the Lordshill 10k which meant they’d won all 12 races in the season and were promoted to the A1 division in style. New Forest Runners were second at Lordshill and Overton Harriers were third but that wasn’t enough to overturn Overton’s second place in the standings so they gained promotion to the top flight.

Isle of Wight Road Runners will be relegated to the A3 division along with Winchester & District who again failed to field a team for any of the races.

Vectis Academy won the Women’s A3 division ahead of Victory AC and they will both be promoted to the A2 division and were way ahead of Hamwic Harriers in third.

Winchester Running Club won the Men’s B1 division quite easily to become B League champions, with Denmead Striders in a distant second place. Totton and Farnham Runners will be relegated to the B2 division.

Portsmouth Joggers topped the standings in the Men’s B2 division and they will be promoted to the top flight along with Hardley Runners.

Fareham Running Club won the Women’s B1 division ahead of Denmead Striders. Portsmouth Joggers and Ryde Harriers will be relegated to the Women’s B2 division.

Winchester Running Club won the Women’s B2 division by winning eight of the races, even though they didn’t have a team out for the other four. Gosport Road Runners will be promoted with them to the B1 division.

Winchester Running Club also won the Men’s C League by a considerable margin, showing what great strength in depth they have. Hedge End won the Women’s C League quite convincingly, getting a team out for eight of the fixtures.

No Bournemouth AC runners made it into the Men’s Individual table this season by doing seven races. Stu Nicholas had the best score of the BAC members who did five races, with James Hulbert second and Jason Christian third. Surprisingly, Rich Nelson was the other man to have done five races, although his score was a touch lower.

Adam Corbin, Mike Akers and Patrick Kingston did four races each and Abdi Elmi won all three of his races, with Joe Arundel winning one, finishing second in another and fifth in the other. Luke Martin competed in each of the last three races after joining the club.

Erin Willmers topped the standings in the Women’s Individual table, winning seven of her eight races. Emma Jolley of City of Portsmouth was second, with Rachel Walsh of Alton Runners taking third.

Even though she only joined the club fairly recently, Max Yao was the only Bournemouth AC woman to do three races, with Katie Gunn, Sophie Read and Helen Beddoe doing two.

Winning the Hampshire League after two back to back promotions was perhaps one of the crowning achievements of Rich Nelson’s tenure in charge of the Bournemouth AC road runners faction. He’d overseen the success of the club during the Steve Way era when it wasn’t just expected that they would win the Dorset Road Race League, it was inevitable.

A few runners like Rob McTaggart, Jacek Cieluszecki and Sanjai Sharma transcended both eras and others like Josh Cole moved away and then came back. Stu Nicholas and Rich Brawn joined towards the tail end of the Steve Way golden era.

As the BAC legends of yesteryear began to fade though or lose interest in representing the club on the local scene, Rich had a tough job on his hands to put together teams for the league fixtures and it became an ongoing battle to keep the club competing at the top.

Tom Craggs then began to coach the Tuesday night group for training and that saw the birth of the Tuesday track nights. That created a new buzz around the club and they began to recruit more members. Rich successfully continued that after Tom left and the club began to profit from interest amongst the local triathlon groups and Precision Hydration crew.

Always keeping his ear to the ground, Rich was always on the look out for new talent though and seeking out athletes who were either training on their own or might have become unsettled with their current clubs and were looking for a more structured session plan to help them kick on.

Using the leverage of the track facilities, the track and field competition and cross country, as well as the road running leagues, Rich has managed to rebuild and revolutionise the squad. As a result, it’s become one that should be big enough to compete on all fronts, which was what was needed, and that will be the mantra going forwards.

With Winchester Running Club moving up into the top division next season, the yellow and blues will have a tough task on their hands to retain the title they won so convincingly this season but they will be up for the challenge and ready to put their all in, come the beginning of the 2025 to 2026 campaign.